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5 Amazing Tips To Fight Childhood Obesity

Obesity has become the single biggest epidemic that the human civilization has had to face of late. The sad fact about obesity remains that an increasing number of its new victims are kids who become obese at a young age and end up developing various life threatening ailments even before they have reached adulthood. However, fighting childhood obesity isn’t that hard and with a little hard work and determination, you too can help you child fight off and ward off childhood obesity for good.

1. See if your child is suffering from a lack of energy

More often than not, kids suffering from a lack of energy and ones with bad sleeping patterns end up getting obese. Since they feel low on energy through the day, they end up reaching for sugary and high fat/calorie foods to get them through the day. Soon, these eating patterns become a part of their lifestyle and become uncontrollable.

If your child has become obese or looks like those extra pounds could easily get him over the obesity line, check to see if your child is suffering from low energy through the day. If the lack of energy is a result of poor sleep patterns, day time naps can be used to ensure that the child isn’t using food to negate the effects of little sleep. Excessive appetite may also be a symptom of metabolic disorders, worms, psychological problems, hormonal fluctuations and even diabetes so you should have your kid tested for these problems if their weight is getting out of control.

2. Improve family menus on the whole

Whether you are eating out, ordering in or cooking at home, if a child has access to junk food or foods that can cause obesity, then they probably will end up on the wrong side of the ideal weight. You cannot expect a child to follow a diet while the rest of the family is eating tempting, fatty foods all day long. If one of your kids is suffering from obesity, their pattern of eating could soon influence your other kids too and soon you’d have a houseful of kids struggling to fight obesity.

A great way to banish obesity is improving family menu on the whole starting with what you cook and serve at home. Then you can move onto watching what kind of foods your family eats when they are out in public and what kind of food you order in. stash your fridge with healthier snack choices like pre-cut veggies and healthy dips and keep healthy snacks like baked potato chips, baked kale chips, roasted chicken wings etc. Using spice mixes also helps draw kids to healthy snacks as they probably won’t find bland snacks too attractive and will be tempted to indulge in junk food.

3. Plan family time and weekends around physical activities

You won’t get any result by forcing your obese kid to be more active while the rest of your family gets to laze around. To help a kid fight obesity, the entire family needs to come together and become more physically active. From playing games in the backyard every evening during the weekdays to indulging in physical activities through the day on weekends, getting the whole family moving is more likely to help ward off obesity risk for one of your kids.

4. Use video games to get your kid moving

Kids today are more likely to spend time in front of the computer or sitting on the couch playing video games. Munching on treats through the day with little or no activity gets your child closer to obesity. However, video games with motion sensing controllers and accessories and titles that ask them to move around to advance and win levels can be a great way to get your child moving while he enjoys playing video games!

5. Activity boosting commute options

Dropping the kids to school, to their friends’ homes, to the mall and to the playground in the family car might be the safer option but it also limits the activity that they could have gotten had they used a bicycle, skateboard, scooter or inline skates to get there. If your child isn’t old enough to commute on their own, you can accompany them on your own bicycle or even get a neighborhood “bike-pool” together where other parents can join in with their own kids and bicycles o skateboards.

– – Diana is a writer/blogger. She loves writing, traveling and reading books. She contributes on College Works Painting.